After years of stories reporting Netflix was launching a local service, it has finally happened. Today Netflix launched Netflix Australia and New Zwaland with pricing plans starting for A$8.99 per month for Australia and NZ$9.99 per month for New Zealand (one month free trial available). Those in Aus who have internet through iiNet or one of their subsidiaries (such as Optus), will get the added bonus of Netflix being unmetered – meaning it doesn’t count towards your data usage. Take note though, those using a VPN to access Netflix US etc will still be charged – this only applies to Aus customers directly accessing Netflix Aus/NZ the old-fashioned way.

Netflix’s Australia and New Zealand offerings will be different, with Stuff reporting that Kiwis will miss out on the likes of Downton Abby and season 3 of House of Cards, which are/will be available in the Australian catalogue.

It’s said that more than 200k Australians are thought to be accessing Netflix via VPN. How many will change? Well, that entirely depends on how quickly the Aus/NZ Netflix catalogue grows. It’s never going to have everything the US Netflix has due to licensing deals and issues acquiring local rights, but there is still potential. Considering the cost of US Netflix + VP is about US$13 per month, the Aus/NZ pricing does come out considerably cheaper, especially when the appalling exchange rate is taken into account.

It’s fantastic that film & TV lovers in this part of the world finally have legitimate access to the service, and if nothing else, it’s going to shake up the local market and provide some much-needed competition.

If you sign up to Netflix, let us know what you think of the offerings.